1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for improving the imaging properties of a projection objective for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. In particular, the invention relates to a method in which various quantities, which have an effect on the imaging properties of the projection objective, are determined in an exit pupil of the projection objective.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For the production of large-scale integrated electrical circuits and other microstructured components, a plurality of structured layers is applied on a suitable substrate which may be, for example, a silicon wafer. In order to structure the layers, they are first covered with a photoresist which is sensitive to light of a particular wavelength range, for example light in the deep ultraviolet (DUV) spectral range. The wafer coated in this way is subsequently exposed in a projection exposure apparatus. During the exposure, a pattern of structures contained in a mask is imaged onto the photoresist by a projection objective. Since the imaging scale is generally less than 1, such projection objectives are often also referred to as reduction objectives.
After the photoresist has been developed, the wafer is subjected to an etching or deposition process so that the top layer becomes structured according to the pattern on the mask. The remaining photoresist is then removed from the other parts of the layer. This process is repeated until all the layers have been applied on the wafer.
One of the most prominent aims in the development of microlithographic projection exposure apparatus is to be able to generate structures with smaller and smaller dimensions on the wafer, so as to increase the integration density of the components to be produced. One possible way of achieving this aim is to improve the imaging properties of the projection objective by various corrective measures. The imaging properties of the projection objective may be degraded by design or material faults, for example, but also by time-dependent changes of the optical elements contained in the projection objective. Examples for such time-dependent changes are heating effects during the projection operation and fluctuations of the pressure of the surrounding atmosphere.
Examples of suitable corrective measures are position changes of individual optical elements with the aid of manipulators. Such manipulators, which are known per se, make it possible for example to displace optical elements along the optical axis or perpendicularly to it, rotate them about the optical axis or tilt them perpendicularly to it. Deliberate bending of optical elements has also been proposed.
The performance of the projection exposure apparatus being used, however, is determined not only by the imaging properties of the projection objective, but also by the properties of an illumination system which directs a projection light beam at the mask to be projected. To this end, the illumination system contains a light source, for example a laser operated in pulsed mode, and a plurality of optical elements which transform the light delivered by the light source generate into a projection light beam with the intended properties. These properties include, inter alia, the illumination angle distribution over the cross section of the projection light beam, i.e. the angular distribution of the light rays which constitute the projection light beam.
A very important point in this regard is generally the illumination angle distribution of the projection light beam in the plane where the mask to be produced is placed during the projection operation. If the illumination angle distribution is specially adapted to the pattern contained in the mask, the latter can be more accurately imaged onto the photoresist on the wafer.
The illumination angle distribution in the object plane where the mask to be projected is placed is often not described as such, but as an intensity distribution in a conjugate pupil plane. This utilizes the fact that each angle with respect to the optical axis, at which a light ray passes through a field plane, can be assigned a radial distance measured from the optical axis in a conjugate pupil plane. In the case of a so-called conventional illumination setting, for example, the region illuminated in such a pupil plane is a circular disc concentric with the optical axis. Each point in the field plane is therefore struck by light rays at angles of incidence of between 0° and a maximum angle dictated by the radius of the circular disc. In the case of so-called unconventional illumination settings, for example ring field, dipole or quadrupole illumination, the region illuminated in the pupil plane has the shape of a ring concentric with the optical axis, or a plurality of individual regions which are arranged away from the optical axis. With these unconventional illumination settings, therefore, the mask to be projected is always illuminated obliquely.
Methods for the improvement of imaging are known in which the profile of the wavefront, i.e. the phase distribution, is separately measured for each field point (point in the image plane) with the aid of a wavefront detector in the exit pupil. The projection objective can then be corrected with the aid of manipulators, for example so that the mean-square overall wavefront error for all the field points is minimal throughout the exit pupil. Other optimization concepts are also known. For example, it has been proposed to carry out correction with the condition that the measured wavefront deformation must not exceed a predetermined amount for any field point.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,097 A discloses a method in which, for imaging correction, the barometric pressure in the projection objective is changed as a function of the illumination angle distribution which has been set. This is based on the idea that the spatial distribution of the heat input into the optical elements of the projection objective depends on the illumination distribution which has been set. Different temperature distributions in an optical element lead to correspondingly different imaging errors, so that the required corrective measures depend on the illumination angle distribution which has been set.
It has been found, however, that these known measures for improving the imaging quality are often insufficient for very accurately imaging fine structures in the mask onto the photosensitive layer.